Clyburn to Obama: "You've got to get toughened up...get used to it"

[Metric System]

Clyburn: Clinton Attacks Will Toughen Obama

ABC News | Jake Tapper | January 21, 2008 09:30 AM

"I'm like everybody else, I'm torn," South Carolina Democrat Jim Clyburn says of his presidential choices in the primary coming up this Saturday....

..."Campaigns for primaries are a part of the preliminaries," he says. "And you've got to get toughened up in the preliminaries in order to do well in the finals. So it seems to me that if we know this kind of thing's out there, you would do well to experience this during the preliminaries so that you will know how to adjust to it or react to it when you get into the finals. And so I would say, as unfair as some of this may be, get used to it. Because if you're around for the general election, you're going to have to come face to face with it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/21/clyburn-clinton-attacks-_n_82448.html?refresh_comments=1

[rodeodance]

1. nicely put--

[tabatha]

2. Yes, acting tough means confronting lies.

Not wimping out, and ignoring so that one is painted as something one is not.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. OK, an example

Real life, real time. How is Obama going to counter the fact that obviously some people who do not mean him well believe that the constant repetition of his middle name will cost him votes?

[Tom Rinaldo]

17. Silence won't be good enough

Claiming that it is a smear to mention his actual midle name won't be good enough.

Hoping people won't notice certainly won't be good enough, and complaining that is shouldn't be mentioned every time that it is sure as hell won't wash.

Obasma needs to have a strategy ready to deal with it that will work. If he does I haven't yet seen it.

This isn't a matter of fair or not fair, simply of political reality.

[EffieBlack]

5. Not always

One of the most important lessons that my wonderful father has taught me is to pick your battles. It is counterproductive to fight back all the time - especially since, as he says, it is insanity to argue with a crazy person since you will always lose.

Sometimes, the acting tough means ignoring an attack, not in wasting your energy getting caught up in chasing it down and killing it. But it all depends on where it's coming from and what the potential damage is. THAT's where the experience comes in.

[ccpup]

3. one would hope Obama would have been aware of this

before Clyburn told him. If not, it hits right at the heart of what some may view as his "inexperience" and perhaps there are those who may now doubt putting him in the General where it REALLY gets ugly.

[redqueen]

7. Thank you.

But he seemed to be unfamiliar with what Olbermann called the "college app" question in the NV debate, so...

[jbnow]

14. It's not clear what you are saying.

Clyburn was not talking to Obama. He was being interviewed and asked about the issue. He says it could be doing him a favor making him a better candidate in the general.

And so? He's dealing with it calmly and plainly enough. Are you saying he'd seem stronger and readier for the general if he didn't respond to distortions of the facts. Whether you think they are distortions or not I am asking more generally...how is responding meaning being less ready for November?

[sandnsea]

6. Didn't Hillary whine "the boys" were picking on her?

I don't see that this applies to either one of them, specifically. I would say Hillary is the one who needs to toughen up and get used to being criticized.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. The one thing I am sure Hillary does NOT need to do

is toughen up to prove that she can stand Republican attacks against her.

[sandnsea]

29. Crying and whining sexism

is NOT going to cut it against Republicans.

[AX10]

10. She is tough, She has taken this shit for 16 years.

[ccpup]

11. was your nap during the 1990s nice?

you know, when she was attacked on a daily basis by a well-funded, single-minded repuglican attack machine and still came out on top in one piece with a Senate career and a very strong shot at being the first female President?

Obama's getting cushy softballs thrown underhand compared to that. And he's STILL whining.

[AX10]

12. The difference is...

that come the GE, the Bush treatment he is getting will be gone. The MSM will tear him down and he will not know what hit him and will respond by whining.

[ccpup]

15. exactly!

one thing I always trusted about Obama was that he understood the work involved in this and wasn't expecting it to be easy. Now, I'm not so sure.

I really am starting to suspect he believed his own hype, believed IA, NH, NV and SC would all go his way with every other State to follow and he would be President because he could "fire up" his crowds and the Press "loved him:. Now that he's lost the last two and will probably not do well enough on Super Tuesday to win the majority of that day's delegates, I truly believe he's at a loss for what to do. The old "what happened? I thought this was gonna be mine!" syndrome.

And it's obvious by his statements that he just cannot accept that the voters chose someone else over him. More time in politics will toughen him up, I think. It's tough to lose, but a lot can be told about someone by how they handle that loss.

[AX10]

18. Just look at his New Hampshire speech. He was...

not conceding that he lost. He can't even be gracious to concede that he could not win every battle.

[ccpup]

19. he had alerted the networks that he would make his victory speech

at 9:30 but then found himself having to add -- begrudgingly, one can imagine -- "I'd like to congratulate Hillary" to the beginning of it.

So, he gave a victory speech he had already written even though he had lost. I think he's still in shock that he's not winning.

[AX10]

21. Look at how he dismisses of John Lewis.

http://www.npr.org/about/press/2007/101207.obama.html

He can't even be nice about Hillary getting an endorsement.

"I can't expect to be getting every single endorsement, given the eight years of a Clinton presidency and the long-time relationships that he has established with leaders all across the country and the favors that he's done for political players all across the country."

See, Obama does attack, he is very subtle, that is all.

[ccpup]

22. that's unfortunate

it really does appear more and more like Obama cannot handle losing! The words of my mother keep echoing in my head today: you can tell a lot about someone by the way they handle loss and disappointment.

Those words seem more true now more than ever. Great Leaders accept loss and move on, head held high. Those who promise they are Great Leaders (but truly aren't) complain, whine and make baseless accusations to excuse and understand their loss.

[AX10]

23. Hillary is the one who holds her head up high..

and moves on. Same with Edwards.

[ccpup]

24. exactly

True Experience will do that for you. And you have to have a stomach of steel to withstand the assault. Obama is showing us he and his Campaign Staff don't. That's not good enough to trust with the Nomination and the General Election.

[Cha]

30. Yeah, she did..this is from Jan 10, 2008

[sunonmars]

9. That was basically a shut up whining and act like a man

thats the be all and end all of it, its politics, suck it up.

[BenDavid]

13. Clyburn calls it "unfair" but does not and will not come out and

say the clintons are playing the race card, because they are not.....I suspect that Mr Clyburn listened to what Rep. John Lewis said about obama and maybe just maybe Mr Clyburn respects John Lewis to believe what he said about both Clintons....

It's obvious that Congressman John Lewis is the most qualified person alive to give an opinion about this dark charge from the Obama camp that Senator Clinton was diminishing the role of Martin Luther King, when she said it took LBJ working with him and the movement to make its ideals into the law of the land.Here are a few quotes by Mr Lewis.

"I must tell you...I'm trying to set the record straight...the Obama camp is doing something else, theyr'e sending out memos to the media trying to suggest that the Clintons are playing the race card."

"It is unfortunate that people have tried to distort what Mrs. Clinton had to say about Dr. King," "I think there has been a deliberate and systematic attempt by some people in the Obama campaign to really fan the flames about race and to really distort what Senator Clinton said. I understood and I think most right thinking people understood what she said.

President and Senator Clinton have a record, a history, a very long history of bringing people together. No right thinking American would ever think that Senator or President Clinton would ever do anything that would use the race card"

"He(obama) is no Martin Luther King Jr. I knew Martin Luther King. I knew Bobby Kennedy. I knew President Kennedy. You need more than speech-making. You need someone who is prepared to provide bold leadership."

I believe John Lewis said it all when he said "you need more than speech-making" and maybe this is one of the reasons Mr Clyburn only calls it "unfair".

[AX10]

16. Obama can give a good speech.

People love the showmanship thing. Obama does that well, Hillary does not, even though she has the experience of working with tough opponents. Obama does not have that. Obama was built by the Chicago machine and had Daley's goons to do his dirty work for him. He never had to get his hands dirty. The Clinton's have been fighting in the trenches for two decades. John Lewis knows this. He knows that the people with the power have to have the experience and the skills. There are more important skills that giving speeches that sound good. Lewis knows this.

[stillcool]

20. oh please...

whatever Obama has said or written has been distorted or mis-quoted. If he were to attempt to refute all the bullshit that's been thrown his way, he would need to take over MSNBC with an all Obama all the time, running commentary of lie by lie. Even then it would not stop. As witnessed here those that have issues with seeing this man as President of the US, will continue to repeat any lie or innuendo that they think might help to bring this man down. I am much more in favor of the boomerang effect.

[2rth2pwr]

25. message to Obama-

[Bok_Tukalo]

26. Was it Obama that was moved to tears this time?

<OPE>

[2rth2pwr]

27. touche`

[styersc]

28. I can't believe that Clyburn is such a racist pig.

Suggest a weakness in the MESSIAH?!?!?

Lets run the POS out of office. Its time to smear his lifetime of progressive activism and show him how much hate we can unleash!!!!!!!